Si Willmore

Journalist. Developer. WordPress fan.

Welcome.
The name is Simon but you can call me ‘Si’.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please consider my application to Automattic for the Technical Account Manager (TAM) for Newspack role.

I look forward to hearing from you!

My recent WordPress experience

I have used WordPress to build just about every type of website imaginable, including:

Not-for-profit

A website for a charity I volunteer for: latafoundation.org

Functionality includes: gifting plugins, donation embeds

Membership

The current UK travel magazine of the year: jrnymag.com

Functionality includes: membership, interactive video

Awards

World-leading photography competition: tpoty.com

Functionality includes: competitions, entry management

Portfolios

Hobbies and side hustles such as woodworking: nocowo.co

Functionality includes: galleries, animations

International media

Most-read travel news publisher: traveldailymedia.com

Functionality includes: events, partner content

Local news

Most importantly for Newspack: moretoninmarsh.com 

Functionality includes: custom-built quiz plugin

Profile

12+ years of experience in journalism, consumer tech, and building websites with WordPress. Fluent in French.

Proficient in SEO, marketing, content and e-commerce. Proven success driving user acquisition, RoAS and LTV.

A Masters in Engineering graduate, I turned my technical skills instead to data-driven content creation, digital analytics and website development.

Tools I use

Analytics

Google Analytics, Ahrefs, Semrush, Tableau

CMS/CRM

WordPress, GitHub, MailChimp, HubSpot

Development

PHP, HTML, CSS

Ads/Comms

Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, Slack, Zoom

Questions for Automattic

  1. What is the single biggest pain point for the Newspack product at the moment? How could I best prepare myself to address this for you?
  2. Are there any skills I seem to be lacking that I can work on?
  3. If you hired me as Technical Account Manager for Newspack, what would the hierarchy of people around me look like? Who would be my manager and who would be my peers?
  4. Sometimes, when all staff members work remotely, it’s easy for teams to become siloed. How does Automattic prevent this?
  5. What is on the Newspack development roadmap for the next 12 months?

Headline achievements

Sub-editor and head of digital, JRNY Travel Magazine

  • Redesigned WordPress website, now at 100k monthly views
  • Implemented membership platform for monetisation

Head of content, Memberful/Patreon (memberful.com)

  • 30x increase in readership of blog about WordPress/membership
  • Revamped content using GitHub and Ahrefs

Editorial director, TD (traveldailymedia.com)

  • Quadrupled WordPress website readership in 12 months
  • Reached 1,000,000 monthly visits

Cofounder, Imperial Beer Club (imperialbeerclub.com)

  • Co-founded company as head of marketing
  • Company acquired by Ales by Mail in November 2017

Head of content, Lion & Lion (lionandlion.com) 

  • Created content for clients such as IKEA, AirAsia and L’Oréal
  • Managed a team of seven

Senior content manager, Groupon (groupon.co.uk)

  • Established procedure for rapid-growth startup
  • Led the department of 12 staff

My professional experience


When I joined, average organic monthly traffic for memberful.com/blog was around 900. In January 2025, we hit 32,000. I achieved this through a combination of SEO, SEM, outreach and partnerships, content creation and collaborating with social media.

Head of content, Memberful (memberful.com)

Sep 2022 – April 2025, remote


When I joined, average organic monthly traffic for memberful.com/blog was around 900. In January 2025, we hit 32,000. I achieved this through a combination of SEO, SEM, outreach and partnerships, content creation and collaborating with social media.

I was brought in to manage the digital arm of the company with focus on maximising retention and thus LTV of paying subscribers. I manage all digital content, develop the WordPress website, and assist with community events to boost acquisition.

Head of digital, JRNY Travel Magazine (jrnymag.com)

Feb 2022 – present, remote

I was brought in to manage the digital arm of the company with focus on maximising retention and thus LTV of paying subscribers. I manage all digital content, develop the WordPress website, and assist with community events to boost acquisition.


I was hired by the world’s leading independent travel publisher to manage the redevelopment of WordPress site bradtguides.com and lead content/ecommerce. A redesign that had not been managed in nine years prior to my arrival was completed in six months.

Digital manager, Bradt Travel Guides (bradtguides.com)

Sep 2019 – Sep 2022, London


I was hired by the world’s leading independent travel publisher to manage the redevelopment of WordPress site bradtguides.com and lead content/ecommerce. A redesign that had not been managed in nine years prior to my arrival was completed in six months.

Having been a board member from 2016 – 2018, I became the youngest-ever head of the UK’s leading society for travel media professionals in February 2019. We revolutionised the application process and events, and rebuilt the website and ecommerce platform using WordPress and WooCommerce.

Chairman, British Guild of Travel Writers (bgtw.org)

Feb 2019 – Feb 2020, London

Having been a board member from 2016 – 2018, I became the youngest-ever head of the UK’s leading society for travel media professionals in February 2019. We revolutionised the application process and events, and rebuilt the website and ecommerce platform using WordPress and WooCommerce.


70,000 pieces of WordPress content were reformatted; layout was rebuilt from scratch. I managed a team of nine comprising tech/content in Europe, Australia and Asia. We quadrupled readership in 12 months; in Nov 2019 we received a million visits.

Editorial director / Native content editor, TD (traveldailymedia.com)

Jan 2018 – July 2019, Bangkok


70,000 pieces of WordPress content were reformatted; layout was rebuilt from scratch. I managed a team of nine comprising tech/content in Europe, Australia and Asia. We quadrupled readership in 12 months; in Nov 2019 we received a million visits.

I was hired on four separate occasions to research, write and edit four books under the world-famous Rough Guides brand: Spain, France (I lived in Grenoble for a year), India and Malaysia (I lived in Kuala Lumpur for three years).

Author, Frommer’s (frommers.com) and Rough Guides (roughguides.com)

Jan 2018 – Apr 2018, HQ in New York and
Apr 2014 – Jan 2018, HQ in London

I was hired on four separate occasions to research, write and edit four books under the world-famous Rough Guides brand: Spain, France (I lived in Grenoble for a year), India and Malaysia (I lived in Kuala Lumpur for three years).

I cofounded a craft beer subscription service and worked as head of content, SEO and social media, while assisting with product curation and website development. Our company was acquired by Ales by Mail in December 2017.

Cofounder, Imperial Beer Club (imperialbeerclub.com)

Jan 2017 – Dec 2017, London

I cofounded a craft beer subscription service and worked as head of content, SEO and social media, while assisting with product curation and website development. Our company was acquired by Ales by Mail in December 2017.

I managed ExpatGoMalaysia.com and EatDrink.my, both on WordPress. By the time I left the company these sites had both entered the top 750 websites in Malaysia for global readership. I was given shares and sold these back to the company founder in June 2017.

Commissioning editor, TEG Digital (tegmedia.my) 

Jan 2016 – Jan 2017, Kuala Lumpur

I managed ExpatGoMalaysia.com and EatDrink.my, both on WordPress. By the time I left the company these sites had both entered the top 750 websites in Malaysia for global readership. I was given shares and sold these back to the company founder in June 2017.


Originally hired as a consultant, I was promoted to department lead, managing a team of seven, for a Google Partners-listed digital agency. Our clients included Adidas, IKEA, AirAsia and L’Oréal’s entire portfolio including Garnier and Maybelline.

Head of content, Lion & Lion (lionandlion.com) 

Jan 2014 – Jun 2015, Kuala Lumpur


Originally hired as a consultant, I was promoted to department lead, managing a team of seven, for a Google Partners-listed digital agency. Our clients included Adidas, IKEA, AirAsia and L’Oréal’s entire portfolio including Garnier and Maybelline.

I helped to lead the department, managing 12 staff and implementing editorial processes that had not existed before. This included a content system check developed in Microsoft VBA, which was adopted in Groupon Norway and Brazil.

Senior content manager, Groupon (groupon.co.uk)

Nov 2010 – Dec 2013, London

I helped to lead the department, managing 12 staff and implementing editorial processes that had not existed before. This included a content system check developed in Microsoft VBA, which was adopted in Groupon Norway and Brazil.